Delhi consumers gets to choose
power suppliers

Under Open Access scheme,
commercial electricity users will be
able to choose their power provider.

BY OUR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENTJune 27, 2007

If you happen to run your business
based out of the national capital,
certain privileges may come your way.
According to the electricity
distribution players in Delhi,
commercial power users will be able to
choose their power supplier, starting
July next. From next month, Delhi
electricity consumers who utilize up
to 5 megawatts of power will be able
to buy it from the provider of their
choice.

Delhi’s Chief Minister Shiela Dixit
has reportedly placed all her trust in
NDPL. A report quoting the CM said she
would choose NDPL any day, if she was
offered the choice.

From next year onwards, one would be
able to see blocks of apartments
choosing their supplier, under the
Open Access scheme. However,
middle-class households might find
migration a dead choice because they
happen to be in the lowest consumption
bracket.

Analysts said that the distribution
networks are currently not compatible
with each other and would require
heavy investments for that to be made
practical. So the ease with which
Delhi's commercial power users will be
able to choose their supplier is
unclear.

Meanwhile the government has directed
distribution companies to upgrade
their network for the upcoming
Commonwealth Games when the national
capital would require 10,000 MW of
power. If that materialises, Open
Access will be possible.

Observers deem that this would mean
empowerment of the Delhi consumer who
used to be at the mercy of the
state-owned monopoly.

Taking off from this potential
development, analysts have gone ahead
and done studies which said that with
a per capita consumption of 704 kWh,
Delhi lays its claim to be the most
pampered consumer of electricity in
the country. Frequent power cuts and
water shortage are a daily phenomenon,
but according to NCAER, an economic
think-tank, Delhiites are the most
pampered electricity consumers with
highest per capita consumption in
India.